Sam Altman’s OpenAI is reportedly working on a social media platform that could go head-to-head with Elon Musk’s X, according to a report by The Verge, marking a new front in the increasingly bitter feud between the two tech titans.
The project, described as an internal prototype, is said to revolve around a social feed integrated with ChatGPT’s image generation capabilities.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has allegedly begun soliciting feedback on the concept, which remains in early development.
While details are scarce, the idea of a generative AI-powered social feed places OpenAI squarely in the crosshairs of Musk and, potentially, Meta, whose upcoming AI assistant platform is reportedly also set to include a social component.
Rumors of Meta’s project surfaced earlier this year. “Ok fine, maybe we’ll do a social app,” Altman responded on X. Now, it looks like they might follow through.
The move comes as OpenAI and Musk are locked in an escalating legal and public relations war.
Last week, OpenAI countersued Musk, accusing him of attempting a hostile takeover via a $97 billion offer for the company and deploying “bad-faith tactics” to wrest control of the company he co-founded. OpenAI is seeking damages and a court order to block further interference.
Altman previously responded to Musk’s February buyout offer on X: “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in March, in which he accused it of abandoning its nonprofit roots. A judge denied Musk’s request to block OpenAI’s transition to a capped-profit structure but fast-tracked the case for trial in fall 2025.
OpenAI, in turn, claims that Musk was the first to advocate for a for-profit model, so long as he ran it. Internal emails released by OpenAI show Musk proposing in 2017 to take control of the board and to become CEO, writing, “I would unequivocally have initial control of the company.”
Musk has since launched xAI, which recently merged with X in an all-stock deal valuing xAI at $80 billion. xAI’s flagship model, Grok-3, debuted in February and is set to scale dramatically.
Meanwhile, OpenAI secured a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank in March, which gave it a $300 billion valuation.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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https://decrypt.co/315020/openai-plans-x-like-social-platform-amid-ongoing-rift-musk